Life Festival jumps the gun on the bank holiday weekend with the first big weekender of the summer season – while also avoiding the clash next week of Open Ear and Forbidden Fruit and […]
Category: Festivals
Lookin’ good today for BBC Biggest Weekend
When the Biggest Weekend was announced, Beeb bosses claimed it would be “the biggest single music event ever attempted by the BBC”. No pressure then. With Glastonbury taking one of its occasional years off to […]
20 European music festivals to mark in your 2018 diary
No matter how many times we say it, talk of Irish festival fatigue is greatly exaggerated – at least where ticket sales are concerned. This week we woke up to the launch of a new […]
The city of Groningen off the Eurosonic path
For four days every January, the small Dutch city of Groningen becomes the centre of Europe’s music scene — with tens of thousands landing in northeast Holland for Eurosonic. Eurosonic-Noorderslag is Europe’s biggest showcase of […]
Dutch and go: 20 things to take away from Eurosonic 2018
The dust has settled on this year’s Eurosonic – the annual showcase in the Dutch city of Groningen that’s a platform for breaking new bands, filling Europe’s festival line-ups and bookers, labels and industry heads […]
Open Ear ’18 is a crucial window into the Irish electronic underground
The third edition of Open Ear returns on the June bank holiday – a showcase of essential acts from the Irish electronic music underground, in the stunning Sherkin Island off West Cork. The first wave […]
10 acts to look out for at Whelan’s Ones To Watch
The only thing more annoying than January is the insufferable moaning about the greyest month of the year. With half the country talking about Dry January as if they’re on barefoot Lough Derg pilgrimage, and […]
Spotlight on the 10 Irish acts at Eurosonic this week
I’m en route to the Dutch city of Groningen for Eurosonic, the annual festival for showcasing fresh artists from all over Europe. Over the next four days the festival is hosting over 300 acts from 25 […]
Richie Hawtin gets up Close at Metropolis
Before Metropolis started two years ago in November 2015, an Irish winter festival seemed like a hard sell. By October every year we’re usually done with the festival spamming all through the summer and we’re […]
Liam’s big mouth routine is the PR win of the year
Ireland’s newest winter festival was nearly left out in the cold after a group of residents lodged an appeal — but the first ever Samhain festival is going ahead at Weston Airport, 20 minutes west […]
We’re going Dutch: Lowlands 2017 recap
Even as the hype over Irish festival season fades and your wellies are dumped in the cupboard, it’s not that insane to start thinking about next year. After all, Electric Picnic tickets went on sale before […]
Another field trip: here’s who to see at Electric Picnic
I know I know, fuck the begrudgers and all that, but this year’s Electric Picnic line-up is pretty underwhelming. I’ve missed two or three since 2005, but this is my first year of zero fomo. […]
Jeru the Damaja Interview: ‘I thought I could save the world’
For a movement that’s in constant flux there’s still an obsession with marking out hip-hop’s greatest year, and 1994 is a popular choice. The year had some mythical albums – Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die […]
Body & Soul mightn’t be ready for Sleaford Mods just yet
After a week full of sunshine and a hysterical reaction to the heat, it looks like the luck could be running out on Body & Soul, with rain forecast for this weekend. Pitching a music […]
Aphex Twin set for all the brain-wrongs at Forbidden Fruit
After Life Fest broke the festival seal last weekend, we’re ready for another summer of three-day sessions, and Forbidden Fruit still has claims on being the handiest of the lot. On the go since 2011, […]
